Merry Christmas!

May this Christmas be merry . . .

. . . and joyous!

A very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

A Reason to Be Merry

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
Isaiah 9:6-7a
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

And a verse that has struck me with its significance this year; the one the angels said to the shepherds in the open sky over a humble field:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.
Luke 2:14

Unexpected

This is what happens when you give a toddler chocolate pudding and then walk away.

And

she
was
so
happy

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Because you really just can't have too many things to eat with Nutella.

I adapted this recipe from one I saw in a magazine. It got my attention because its main ingredient is the fabulous Nutella, and also because the ingredient list is super short. The chocolate chips are my addition; in the original recipe, you split the cookies in half and spread Nutella between the layers, making a sandwich cookie--I'm sure that's quite delicious, but this takes less time and is very tasty with less effort.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

1-1/2 cups Nutella
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-1/2 cups self-rising cake flour (regular self-rising flour will work okay, too)
8 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat together the Nutella, eggs, and butter, then slowly add the flour. The dough will be wet. Fold in the chocolate chips, but don't stir more than three or four times.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it gently three or four times. The dough will be sticky, so you might need to dust it with a bit more flour and flour your hands. Next, pull off portions of dough (I aimed for a size of about two tablespoons), roll them into balls between your palms, and place 1-2" apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until firm. Don't overbake. Makes about 50 cookies.

Palmiers

I have something for you to cook.

It'll make you look fancy.
It'll make you look like a master in the kitchen.
It'll impress your friends.

And it's the easiest thing I've made in quite a while.

It's palmiers.

A while back, I saw someone make palmiers on a cooking show, and I tucked the info away for a time when I needed something impressive yet deceptively easy. I made them for my book club, and everyone thought I was amazing; little did they know how simple the recipe is.

In a nutshell, palmiers are just frozen puff pastry spread with either a sweet or savory ingredient, rolled up, then sliced and baked. Because they can go either sweet or savory, they're very versatile. I did one set of savory and one set of sweet, and they were a hit.
-----

Palmiers

Ingredients:
1 box frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg yolk, beaten
flour for rolling

Possible fillings:
-shredded Parmesan cheese, with or without herbs
-chopped sun-dried tomatoes
-olive tapenade
-jam, any flavor
-orange zest and sugar

On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry a bit. Spread your topping, taking care not to add too much of anything liquid (such as jam), because the excess will leak out while baking. Starting on two opposite sides, evenly roll up the pastry towards the middle. Brush some egg yolk at the seam where the two rolled edges meet in order to make it stick, then refrigerate on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400.

Remove the pastry roll from the fridge and, with a sharp knife, carefully slice the pastry, slice-and-bake style, into 1/2" pieces. Lay them out on a baking sheet and brush tops with the egg so they'll be glossy and brown when you take them out of the oven. If you are making sweet palmiers, you might also sprinkle them with sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden.

-----
So make a batch and impress your friends or family at your next holiday party! Enjoy!

The Things They Pick Up

The other day, while Noah was convalescing on the couch (he's been sick with a cold and an ear infection), he said, out of nowhere, "I've been waiting for this day for years."

And this morning, as he was trying to button his shirt, he said, "Mommy, I can't do this. I don't have any practice. I ran out."

He's so funny!

As for Miss Jane, words are coming fast and furiously for her. Her vocabulary is expanding quickly. The pediatrician told me that at two years old, they want them to have about 40 words. At 21 months, Jane has well over 100. Much of the time, you do have to have a little imagination and consider the context to figure out what exactly she's saying, but she does say a lot.

And Noah can be a little chatterbox. We had some friends, Nora and Raj, over for dinner last night, and Noah gave them a very thorough tour of the first floor of our house. "And this is the room where we have the TV. . . . And this is our couch. . . . We have a fireplace! And Daddy made a fire last night and the night before and for three years!" He did not stop talking until we made him sit down and occupy his mouth with eating instead of speaking.

Lately

Where to begin? We've celebrated Thanksgiving twice, begun our Christmas festivities, bought lots of presents, been sick, gone to a nice company holiday dinner, and more. Here are the few pictures I've taken in the last few weeks.

Dear little Noah at his Mother's Day Out Thanksgiving presentation.
He started out as a happy little Indian.

But he ended up like this. :(

Poor kid! All the people and the excitement was a little much for him, or so his teachers thought. As for me, I think it also had something to do with his friend taking the spot he thought should have been his....

However, there's nothing a little cake can't fix.

I thought this was too cute not to take a picture. Jane climbed up and snuggled with Noah while he was sleeping.

She also tried on his underwear. Over her jeans. With her daddy's help.

And here's a picture of Janey in the sweater her Aunt Emily made her last year.

Before and After: The Kitchen

Here is my first set of before and after shots:
The Kitchen!

Before:

The entire kitchen, breakfast room, and family room were painted this odd color. We think they were trying for a light colored wood grain look, but it was not very successful.

That oven ended up having to be replaced right away. It was 40 degrees off, and the knobs fell off in my hand.

We also got new counters and floors.

After:

Our "new" kitchen!
(The fridge still needs to be moved back in place in this pic--oops.)

This picture is taken from the same perspective as one of the "before" pics. Very different now!

We had this little bookshelf built at the end of the counter, and I really like it. It's the perfect place for my cookbooks, and the little knick-knacks are all kid friendly.

Because this house did not have a pantry, we had one built. It's there in the corner on the right.

Love those drawers! How awesome is it not to have to bend way down to see what's in the back on that lowest shelf?
Also, now I have enough room to have each drawer devoted to a category of food: potatoes/onions/bags of fruit, all baking ingredients, canned goods, and spices. I'm a little nerdy about it, but it makes me feel very satisfied to be that organized.

By a long shot, we've done more in this room than in any other (other than the bathrooms, most of the house just needed fresh paint more than anything else). And so far, I'm really enjoying our new kitchen! We still have some painting details to finish up and so on, but all the major stuff is done, and I think it came out well. It's much lighter and brighter, which is what we were aiming for.

A Better Butternut Pasta

Long ago and far away, I created a butternut squash pasta dish that I posted to this blog. The other day, I improved upon it. In fact, my more recent butternut pasta is far, far better than the first. And this has a whole lot to do with the fact that it has far, far more fat in it. In fact, it's probably the fattiest thing I've cooked in years (if you don't count desserts).

However, I've made it twice over the last two weeks because it is just so decadently good. Butter, cream, cheese . . . I don't know about you, but those ingredients definitely say "luxurious" and "decadent" to me. Add the lovely fall flavors of sweet butternut squash, sage, and thyme, and include some sausage because it goes so nicely with squash and for some spice and texture, and I'm a happy girl.

--

Butternut Squash and Sausage Pasta with Parmesan Cream Sauce

4 cups fresh cubed butternut squash, or 20 oz. frozen cubed butternut squash*
8 oz. (half of a roll) of pork breakfast sausage with sage (such as Jimmy Dean's)
3 Tablespoons butter, divided
2 Tablespoons flour
3/4 cup heavy cream
1-1/2 cups milk
3 sprigs thyme (more if you love it)
dash nutmeg
2 oz. (or more) grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
salt to taste
10 oz. cooked shell pasta

Heat a large skillet over medium heat (I used a nonstick skillet). Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan. Pull off bite-sized pinches of sausage and put them into the pan (mine are probably about a tablespoon each), then add the squash over and around the meat. Cover the pan and let the squash and sausage cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sausage is done. Don't stir it very much or everything will break apart; I only stir it once to turn the sausage so that it cooks on both sides. After it's done cooking, drain off a bit of the fat.

While you wait for the sausage and squash to cook, make the cream sauce. Start by melting the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and whisk together until you get a paste. Let cook for about a minute, but don't let it get very brown. Slowly add the heavy cream and milk, whisking while you go. Drop in the thyme sprigs, but don't take the leaves off (you will take it out after it's had a chance to steep in the sauce). Bring the sauce up to a slow simmer and let it cook for five to ten minutes, or until it is at least thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the nutmeg and the cheese and stir. After the cheese is melted, remove the thyme.

Pour the cream sauce over the squash and sausage and stir gently to combine. Add salt to taste (I find that it needs a generous amount of salt, even though it contains sausage and cheese). Toss with your pasta, and you're done!

Enjoy!

*Note: If you use fresh squash, your sauce will have retain some soft chunks of it. If you use frozen, it tends to cook down more quickly, and you will end up with a butternut mash that mixes smoothly into cream sauce. They both taste the same, but if you prefer more of a lumpy texture (like me), use fresh squash or add the frozen 7 or 8 minutes after you've begun cooking the sausage. If you prefer more of a smooth texture, use frozen and follow the recipe as written.

Today's Dose of Cuteness

For your enjoyment:

Back to Beloved Boston

About a month ago, Nathan and I took the kids back to Boston for a visit. We've been in Houston nearly a year and a half now, and we thought it was good timing for us to remind Noah and Jane of where they were born. Besides, we missed our friends and wanted to visit them. And, of course, Lauren is a Fall Nut. I love autumn in New England, and I knew that when we went back for a visit, I wanted to make sure it was during October, when the foliage is at its prettiest, there's an invigorating crispness in the air, apples are ripe for the picking, and simple things like wearing sweaters and eating soup are a joy.

As we drove into the city from the airport (taking a wrong turn and getting not unpleasantly lost downtown), Nathan and I agreed that we had two mutual impressions upon returning to the city where we had lived for six years. The first was that Boston is so much prettier than Houston. The character of (most of) the architecture is so pleasing, and there are far more trees and far less concrete than we are used to these days.

This is the steeple of Park Street Church, as seen across Boston Common. We were members of that fine church while we lived there and were very glad to be able to visit again that Sunday.

Any Make Way For Ducklings fans out there? The Boston Public Gardens are right next to the Common (to the right of this picture). We meant to take Noah down there to see the statues of the ducklings, but we didn't get the time.

A view of the Charles River along Storrow Drive. That's MIT across the river.

This is Rte. 2, which runs northwest out of Boston. Nathan and I commented that it sure would be awesome if Houston's Hwy. 290 looked like this!

The day we arrived, our dear friends, the Robinsons, arranged to have a little BBQ in our honor so that we'd be sure to see some families that we wouldn't have been able to visit with otherwise. When most of us met, none of these children had been born yet, and I love this picture of the general hubbub.

Which brings me to the other observation that Nathan and I both felt to be true: Even though we had not been back for a year and a half, it felt as if nothing had changed. Everything looked the same, and it felt as familiar as if we had been driving along the Charles River last week. It's a nice thing to feel so at home in a place where you no longer live. But, more notably, relationships had not changed. And what a delight and a blessing that is! People grow apart, especially when circumstances change; in our case, we've moved halfway across the country, and people have had babies since we left. But, somehow, all the joy of seeing each other had not dimmed at all, and we simply picked up our previous level of intimate conversation, laughter, and so on. Truly, it's a blessing to have friends like that.

The Beneshes and the Murgatroyds. So good to see Amy and Dave again!

Note that Noah and Jane would have nothing to do with the camera, whereas Brenna and Cora smiled like angels.

And the Cochrans, very dear friends of oursBonnie and Dave have some kind of magic with small children or something. They're so good with little ones. And my kids smiled for the camera (!).

A lot of our time at the Robinson house was spent playing with their three little ones:

Noah and Abigail. She's so cute and such a talker, for her age.

"Come on, guys, let's go!"

Jane, Abigail, Nathan, and Noah

Fun times!

I was so pleased that Noah played so well with little Nathan and Abigail. In particular, he loved playing with Nathan, who is a year older than him. I honestly don't think I'd seen him laugh so hard or so often in a while. He certainly loved being with his friend, and it made me happy to see him so happy.

This is our old house in Belmont. We stopped by to say hello to our former landlady, Priscilla, and we met up with a friend who took our apartment after we left, as well. It was lovely to see them!

While we were in Boston, I also got to take part in one of my old book club's meetings. What a pleasure it was to chat and laugh and discuss a book with a few of my old friends.

We didn't get to see everyone (we had particularly wanted to visit Nathan's old department at Harvard)--there simply was not enough time. But we were glad to see the friends we did.

One of our highest priorities for this trip was to take the kids apple picking. It's a bit of a fall ritual in New England, and we were not going to miss out. And after talking it up to Noah for a couple of months, he was about as excited as I was! There's just something special about seeking out your favorite apple variety, munching on a fresh-picked apple as you stroll along, climbing the ladders, hay rides, apple cider donuts, and so on.

The foliage had not quite peaked yet by the time we got there, but some of the leaves had begun to turn.

One day, I'd love to have a house like that on a back road in a small town. Wouldn't that be idyllic?

Getting into apple country!

These boys were excited, let me tell you.
This is them "smiling" for the camera.

Time to start picking! Let's go find me some Cortlands!

(By the way, I ensured that we brought an entire carry-on bag just for Cortland apples and stuff from Trader Joe's. Oh, yes, I did.)

The dear Robinson family: Sara, Bryan, Rebecca, Nathan, and Abigail.

Nathan, climbing a ladder.

Don't leave Abigail out!

Noah felt a little trepidation, but he enjoyed the climbing, too.

You can do it, Noah!

How far down is the ground?

An apple-pickin' boy.

Jane didn't climb any ladders, but she did love chomping down on some fresh apples!

That hat, though. That hat was something else. Eventually, it had to go.

Aaah, much better.

Nathan

Daddy and daughter.

Cortlands are the best, aren't they Noah?

I think he agrees.

All was going pretty well, until one of the yellow jackets that was buzzing around the apples on the ground bit Jane in the neck. We think it bit rather than stung her because she didn't cry hard enough to have been stung (yellow jacket stings are awful), but it did turn red and made her quite unhappy for a while. Poor girl. And we also figured out that they were attracted to her white coat. Lovely. An aside: 18 month olds are not the best travelers. Although this trip was not nearly as awful as the trip we took with Noah at this age, while we were there she did have 1.) a cold, 2.) a stomach bug, and 3.) a yellow jacket bite. Although none of those things were her fault, it sure did make for a more difficult trip. Especially since she passed her stomach bug along to her daddy and then on to her brother (who threw up on the plane--now that is a parenting story that I will not forget anytime soon). And then the Robinsons got the stomach bug--so sorry, guys!

Anyway, back to the apple picking. Here we are trying (unsuccessfully) to get Jane to smile again after getting bit in the neck.

Eventually, it stopped bothering her so much, and she was happy again.

Love this pic. Those kids are so cute.

The orchard where we went, Honey Pot Hill, also has a hedge maze.

Noah and Nathan were just a tiny bit excited.

I have about 15 pictures of their backs. They ran and ran through that thing.

How much further, Mommy?

Aha! We made it!

And after that, we all ate some much-deserved apple cider donuts. And then we went back and bought some more. Because they are so dang good.

The tractor is always a big attraction.

As are the pumpkins.

Janey and Miss Rebecca.

Abby joined the fun.

My little running man.

We wanted a picture of him in the pumpkins, but he was just itching to get up and run around some more. This was the best smile I could get!

I think the kids were ready to stop posing for pictures. Can you tell?

What a great time we had!